An open letter to NTL.
 

Dear sir / madam,

This is my speed test of several minutes ago:

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 17:47:57 GMT

1st 512K took 10297 ms = 49.7 KB/sec, approx 410 Kbps, 0.4 Mbps
2nd 512K took 9218 ms = 55.5 KB/sec, approx 457 Kbps, 0.45 Mbps
3rd 512K took 9672 ms = 52.9 KB/sec, approx 436 Kbps, 0.43 Mbps
4th 512K took 8531 ms = 60 KB/sec, approx 494 Kbps, 0.48 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 449 Kbps, 0.44 Mbps

This type of slow speed has been a recurring issue over the past six weeks or so since traffic shaping and the 20mb trials were rolled out.

I am paying you people £34.99 per month for what, at the time, was advertised as 10mb (not "up to") "unlimited" internet access. My previous 3mb connection was rock solid but since your "free upgrade" to the 10mb tier I, and thousands of other customers, have had nothing but an intermittent and shoddy "service".

Can someone afford me a factual explanation as to why this issue persists?

Thank you.

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Oh Angry one...

Mon, 4 Dec 2006 18:45:05 UTC

1st 512K took 422 ms = 1213.3 KB/sec, approx 9998 Kbps, 9.76 Mbps
2nd 512K took 437 ms = 1171.6 KB/sec, approx 9654 Kbps, 9.43 Mbps
3rd 512K took 438 ms = 1169 KB/sec, approx 9633 Kbps, 9.41 Mbps
4th 512K took 421 ms = 1216.2 KB/sec, approx 10021 Kbps, 9.79 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 9827 Kbps, 9.6 Mbps


Yours,

Her down the road.

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

any consolation its as slow as a valium dosed snail here too.

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

mmmmm....
conspiracy theory time ;)

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

And which one would that be today then ;):D

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

http://gamefiles.blueyonder.co.uk/bl...h/ifhsetup.exe

What speeds do you get on this "real" download?

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

255kB i am on a 10 meg connection.

And this on speedtest.net

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2006/12/27.png

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Oldham running well tonight :p:

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 20:44:07 GMT
1st 128K took 98 ms = 1337469 Bytes/sec = approx 11128 kbits/sec
2nd 128K took 109 ms = 1202495 Bytes/sec = approx 10005 kbits/sec
3rd 128K took 108 ms = 1213630 Bytes/sec = approx 10097 kbits/sec
4th 128K took 107 ms = 1224972 Bytes/sec = approx 10192 kbits/sec
Must be the rain lubricating the fibre.

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

I see you are a employee BillC, so have you looked to see if there is high utilisation on the UBR, or if you are not within the TSC have you asked one of our guys/girls from TSC?

Are you running anyother downloads while doing this test.
Does this happen often?
If yes, when?
Daily thing, what times of day?

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

"awkward user"? :D

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

It's Mr Angry that has the issue and not Bill C?

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

:LOL:

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Our friend Bill C would seem to have a speed issue too :)

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

I'm a girl, what would I know? ;)

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Happens every night bang on 6.00pm stops bang on 12.00 midnight

My UBR is fine thank you very much having had a new card installed and a complete reseg and checked on badger as well :LOL:

Another download at the same time. Dont think so :LOL:

If i download from giganews i can get full 10 meg anytime of the day.

There are at the moment no proxys in my area so any drop in speed must be

A. congestion.
B. traffic shaping :D

So which one are you thinking it is ?


I do know which one and dont get me going on it or i will go into RANT mode again ;) :LOL:

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Arh now if you hadn't mentioned the news groups having full speed Bill, I'd have said congestion.
One way to ruleout shaping my friend. Hows your ethereal skills, you can take a look see at your packets.

Fingy I'm sure you know loads, I've been taught a thing or two by a lady before today. Never put yourself down mate, even jokingly :D

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

It's often been commented that Mr Angry is a big girl's blouse :D

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Message received and understood Bill, thanks for not making me go through the whole netstat -a thing ;)

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Ta, I do know lots, usually random facts. As for Mr Angry being a big girls blouse, umm, no comment... he knows where to find me! ;)

I am however having to use proxies lots recently as my webbyworld is crawling. :shrug:

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

If browsing is slow Fingy, have you tried TOR?
http://tor.eff.org/
This combined with a simple Firefox extension makes using proxies easy.

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

It's slow on my laptop, my pc and hubbys pc. Hubby uses some other browser, would love to tell you what but he sets the font so small I would need a magnifying glass, or to borrow dillis binoculars.

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Possibly Opera, Fingy?
TOR can be used on any browser, I use it on Firefox as Firefox has a TOR button extension. And it saves me from playing with my beloved Opera settings.

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

I get a measly 880kB/s :D

Hertfordshire

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

I get the same as Bill C, but i don't have a speed issue as i always max newsgroups. And that speed test is terribly inaccurate for me lately, so never trust speed tests especially as it's been known for my virus checker to slow it down.

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Couldn't agree more snoopZ, I don't have faith in online speed tests at all :)

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

I get 1200kB/s. Glasgow.

Which is why my current problems are so bloody frustrating. See my post at the bottom of http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...php?t=33604151


*sigh*

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

And when you download this file http://gamefiles.blueyonder.co.uk/bl...h/ifhsetup.exe thetitletrack, what speed do you get?

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Gawd, this is so painful recently... not been having any problems until about 2 weeks ago, whereby download was gradually decreasing. Like Bill, Giganews wasn't affected ...until now. Can only get a measly 16KB/s tonight of my 10Mb connection :Yikes:

Trying to do various speed tests, but the pages are taking minutes to load, let alone me actually perform any tests. Tried downloading something via mirror.ac.uk and it was maxing out at 19KB/s.

If this carries on much longer, I'm gonna have to consider getting my line checked for ADSL. If I wanted dial-up speeds, I wouldn't bother paying NTL £35 p/month. Come on, NTL, sort it out please!

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

I'm now maxing out on that file at 10mbit.

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

See my post above.

Tried it again anyway - 1150Kb/s to 1200Kb/s.

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

*confused* So is that kb/s or kB/s as in post #34172354

Going from your time of post SnoopZ, 23:52 and now you get a better speed. This could hint at shaping :(
??:?? to 00:00 or there abouts for shaping. I'm guessing here, but it does smell fishy.

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Don't think i'm being shaped yet, atleast i'm not on newsgroups. I thought they had no plans to shape http traffic anyway, but you have a point.

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Oops. Apologies. Typo. It's kB/sec.

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Just to clarify mate, you are getting 1150KB/s to 1200KB/s. ?

10Mbit is 10240kb or 1280KB

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

>>Just to clarify mate, you are getting 1150KB/s to 1200KB/s.<<

Yes.

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

10Mbit ( storage size ) equates to 1280KB, you are getting very close to that speed 1150KB/s to 1200KB/s. So maybe I'm missing something here :confused:

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Yeah, in the other thread, I mentioned that downloading files from a reputable source is fine, which we just proved there.

The problem is that it keeps failing when I'm browsing the internet, and for some reason can barely stream any media, even low bitrate radio from bbc.co.uk. Watching any videos or streaming music online leads me to constantly waiting for it to finish buffering every few seconds, and I can't imagine this connection speed can't handle some forums and the bbc website. Pages can take anywhere between 10 and 30 seconds to load, but this is 10 meg broadband I'm paying for.

Quite often I'll be looking at something and the images on the page refuse to load, but some of the other content does. It's not consistent and I can't put it down to anything in particular, or any particular websites.

My problem is that the connection is intermittent. When it works, it does work. But for the last month or so it's not been anywhere near as reliable as it should be. I don't want to pay for an intermittent connection. I was just trying to gather some information about connection issues others might be facing and whether there's anything going on that could be causing this problem.


Did you see my downstream and upstream data on the other thread?

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

*Blush* Sorry mate, I didn't. I'll take a look in the morning and hopefully we can help you out some.

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

hehe. no problem

thanks for looking in, i'll look at the thread in the morning :-)

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Check the other thread i have posted answer to the problem with your modem there.

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

cheers, will have a look!

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 21:37:58 GMT

1st 512K took 8531 ms = 60 KB/sec, approx 494 Kbps, 0.48 Mbps
2nd 512K took 8156 ms = 62.8 KB/sec, approx 517 Kbps, 0.5 Mbps
3rd 512K took 8500 ms = 60.2 KB/sec, approx 496 Kbps, 0.48 Mbps
4th 512K took 6485 ms = 79 KB/sec, approx 651 Kbps, 0.64 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 540 Kbps, 0.53 Mbps

To repeat this test from the source server click here.

This is my speed test six days after I paid £34.99 in advance for 10mb service for the month of December and over three days after my original question via open letter to NTL.

Would anyone at NTL care to show the slightest bit of integrity / interest and offer some sort of explanation as to why I should be expected to put up with this "service"?

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Took your time to reply didn't you!
Have you tried downloading the file I suggested Mr Angry?
edit
Would Mr Angry care to show the slightest bit of integrity / interest to the posts about his speed issues, when people give up their free time and knowledge to try and help him

ok MR Angry, read through the tread, download the file I suggested.
Slow speed all the time?
If no, then when does it slow?
What modem/router do you have?
Pings to the bbc? Please post.
can you post us some stats from your modem/router?
Do you have a firewall?
What type?

The list goes on my friend, give us more info besides a web based speed test and a rant. Help us help you.

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Open CMD please.
Start-run-type in CMD-press enter-type into black box-ping www.bbc.co.uk

Are you connecting via wireless, if so how are your speeds if you use just modem to pc?

Stats from modem.
Downstream
frequency
power
SNR

Upstream
Power.

And you are welcome!

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

r00t, can u check out the HA0 area. There was an area fault, and shortly after have been told by TS that its due to overcongestion basically. The engineers are working on it. Its been 3 weeks now I think.

ping to bbc is anything between 20ms - 150ms! RIGHT NOW THAT IS

the links to the file downloads are anything from 20KB/s to 250KB/s

oh and i am on 10mb btw! connected via a modem through ethernet. NO ROUTER!

PS, the morning time is usually fine. Getting close to 10mb. Night time, ie 4pm-12am roughly speeds start to dieeeeeeeeeeeee:erm:!

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

oi oi Angry... Have you talked to Paul at all about this, see if he can see if there is a network issue in your part of the world?

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

DONT BOTHER!

SCRAP ur plan ;)

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Excuse my absence, its a work thing :(

dcclanuk, sadly my friend I can't check NTL. BY then yes. By my posting in this thread I was/am going through some simple fault finders and should they fail I'd have suggested calling NTL and asking about the UBR.

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Courtesy of "your woman" I have today had a senior faults engineer and a network engineer around for coffee.

My speeds are now as follows;

12/9/2006 2:17 PM GMT 9750 kb/s 482 kb/s 48 ms Derby~ 250 mi

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Hoorah, hoorah!!!!

Mr Angry is now M'sieu Mildly-Miffed.:D

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

It appears mine is slowing down now. I'm supposed to be on 4MB yet I'm only getting half of it.

1st 512K took 2453 ms = 208.7 KB/sec, approx 1720 Kbps, 1.68 Mbps
2nd 512K took 2016 ms = 254 KB/sec, approx 2093 Kbps, 2.04 Mbps
3rd 512K took 1953 ms = 262.2 KB/sec, approx 2161 Kbps, 2.11 Mbps
4th 512K took 1719 ms = 297.8 KB/sec, approx 2454 Kbps, 2.4 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 2107 Kbps, 2.06 Mbps

My connection has been seriously dodgy the last week :erm:

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Woo and indeed hoo!!

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2006/12/21.png

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

I'm beginning to dislike you, Mr Angry :mad:

Finally convinced NTL's Indian call centre that I did need an engineer's visit - after saying I knew an NTL employee who had confirmed it would need this (thanks, Bill :tu:) but earliest, convenient appointment is not till Thursday... mostly due to my working hours, not their unavailability.

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Angry Towers was graced, the things people would do to have a network tech and a senior fault tech there at the same time.... you must make nice coffee! Glad its sorted.

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Congratulations in the resolve of your speed issues , Mr Angry. Gareth make the appointment possible, take a day off, rebook a holiday try not to die on that day, but take it. You may never have this chance again. ;)

Perhaps I'm being bitter here, but now is your chance to fore go the "fob off" the 'tech' adviser with less know how than you. The "I'm in a sweat shop and will you anything to get you off the phone and reduce my call time"

Grasp that appointment with both hands Gareth and don't let go :D

Best wishes
Disillusioned
/r00t

Re: An open letter to NTL.
 

Gareth, I'd be careful about the Thursday appt if I were you as I anticipate that by Tuesday 12th @ 14:10 GMT I will have downloaded the entire interweb.

I would expect to have it edited, back on line and for sale on Ebay by Thursday 14th but can't give a definite time.


In the meantime many thanks to r00t et al for tips & help.